A Very Swan-Mills Christmas
by joshiferdallas
Summary: It's Emma and Regina's first Christmas as a couple, so they decide to spend it with their extended family at Granny's Diner with a little twist. Mini-fic maximum fluff.
1. Shopping

**_A/N: This mini-fic is completely AU, so just go with it! I hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to review!_**

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_Chapter One._

It was a week before Christmas when Emma realised that she had spent every moment with Regina and hadn't found time to actually buy her girlfriend any gifts. Since Regina was working and Storybrooke never really seemed have any form of crime, Emma decided to take the opportunity to do some last minute shopping after her usual mug of cocoa at Granny's.

"Hey, Emma!" beamed Ruby as Emma stumbled into the diner. "You look like hell."

"Hey!" Emma shouted, feeling offended as she looked herself up and down. "My mom wouldn't let me leave without several layers of clothes. Rubes, I'm wearing six sweaters, three pairs of pants and two pairs of gloves. I'm sweating from places I didn't even know I could sweat."

"That's an image I didn't really need, Em." Ruby chuckled and leaned over the counter as Emma took a seat on the stool in front of her. "The usual?"

"No, uh, I made Regina a flask of coffee this morning, so just mine, please." She smiled and attempted to pull her gloves off with her teeth. "You know, I always wanted a smushy family, but seriously, this is too much. Mary Margaret is suffocating me."

"Shut up, Emma, you love it really." Ruby teased as she handed Emma her a cup of hot cocoa to go. "So, what have you got Regina for Christmas? Anything fun?"

Ruby gave Emma a wink that caused the blonde to blush blood red and sip her cocoa in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. "Actually, I don't have anything for her yet." She admitted, "We've practically spent every day together for the past month; I haven't even had time to look online. So, since David decided he wanted to spend more time as deputy and Regina is working, I decided to dedicate my day to find something for her. The only thing is - I have no idea what to get her."

"You've got to be kidding me?" Ruby shouted, earning a stern glare from Granny who was traipsing around the diner taking orders from her usual patrons. "Ems, she's going to kill you."

"Yeah, no shit." she chuckled and instantly turned serious, "You have to help me, Ruby."

Ruby nodded and faked several coughs before calling Granny over to the counter. "I think," she coughs, "I'm coming down," she coughs again, "with something." Her final cough turned into a fake coughing fit, making Granny roll her eyes.

"Fine, go save Emma's ass while I save yours and run this entire diner." Granny snapped and hit Ruby with her dishcloth before returning to her duties.

Emma grinned and took another swig of her hot cocoa before attempting to put on a pair of her gloves. As Ruby hoisted her jacket from the coat stand and pulled a hat over her head, she plunged her hands into her jacket and quickly began to regret not wearing gloves to work that morning.

"Put these on." Emma threw the gloves to Ruby and headed towards the door of the diner. "There is no way I'm going to wear two pairs of gloves all day."

Ruby snatched the pair of gloves from Emma's grasp and put them on her boney fingers as fast as she could. "Okay, what sort of thing do you want to get her?" She raised her eyebrows and linked her arm with her best friend's as they walked down Main Street towards the shops.

"I want something romantic; something that screams 'I love you', but something thats also suitable to open in front of Henry." She smiled and leaned her head on her friend's shoulder, "And maybe something else that she can open later."

"For the 'secret' present, you should totally get her a pair of handcuffs. It's kinky and totally screams 'I love you' in a weird, twisted way." She laughed as Emma nudged her, almost pushing her off the sidewalk.

"Why buy her handcuffs when I've already got some?" Emma raised her eyebrows at the brunette, who still hadn't caught onto what she was suggesting. "Rubes, my girlfriend made me sheriff; we've had sex in one of the cells. Do you really think that I wouldn't use my own pair of handcuffs on her? Seriously, you underestimate me."

The pair fell into a fit of laughter and almost slipped on the ice on the sidewalk, causing them both to laugh even harder. However, their laugh came to a sudden holt when Killian Jones swerved in front of them.

"Good morning, ladies." He slurred. It was clear by his speech and smell that he had been drinking. "Decided to take me up on my offer have we, Swan?"

"No chance, Hook." Ruby butted in before Emma could open her mouth. "She's not interested in you - never has been, never will be."

"Ah, Swan, our kiss was convincing, was it not?" He swayed, making the two women before him begin to feel a little nauseas.

"So is her sex with the mayor." Ruby's wit was fast, but so was Emma's reaction. The blonde gave her friend a dig in the ribs before she continued. "You might want to try someone with lower standards. And a nose peg."

"Yeah, Hook, you smell like you've swam in a flooded brewery." Emma scoffed and tried to push him aside to continue their walk to the shops.

"Come on, just gimme a Christmas kiss?" His drunken puppy dog eyes were fooling no-one and merely made Ruby and Emma burst into laughter once again.

As they shuffled past the drunken pirate, he slipped on the ever present ice and stumbled into a hedge, which hid his entire body apart from his legs.

"You know, when Regina and I first started dating, she thought I was going to stand her up to go on a date with that moron." Emma chuckled, remembering the look on Regina's face when they had the conversation. "Ha, believe me, spending a week camping with him was enough for a lifetime."

"Emma, stop rambling, I have an idea." Ruby interrupted Emma's trail of thought as she locked her eyes on the only jewellery store in town. "You want to marry Regina, right?"

"Right..."

"I have a present that says 'I love you', it's something that can be give in front of Henry and just keeps on giving." Ruby flailed.

"Wait, you're not thinking what I am, are you?" Emma stopped and pulled her arm away from the link she had created with Ruby. "No way. She would probably freak out and she would probably make me leave and I wouldn't get to spend christmas with her nor Henry."

"Come on, Ems," Ruby begged and pouted her lip. "Its going to happen sooner or later - why not now? Why not Christmas?"

"Number one; it's clichéd. Number two; you know how she likes to be in control. And number three; I haven't thought this through enough." Emma sighed and rubbed her eyes.

As much as she really wanted to go along with Ruby's idea, she was absolutely terrified that the woman she was madly in love with would turn her down on Christmas day and make her hate herself for the rest of her days.

"What if she says no?" Emma blurted in panic.

"Emma, believe me, she's not going to say no."


	2. Madam Mayor

Chapter Two.

Regina Mills had eyes everywhere. When the lost boys were brought to Storybrooke, she insisted that cameras were to be fitted in every shop, bar and restaurant - even street corners were covered as soon as she got home. Emma had insisted that she rested before getting back to work, but as always, regina was stubborn and refused to listen to the infuriating blonde. The two fought until the sexual tension between them became so thick, neither could fight it. Their kiss changed everything.

She wasn't a woman of regret, but with Emma Swan, Regina merely regretted not seeing the beauty in the blonde sooner. For Regina, Emma was perfect. She was the only person that ever seemed to stand up to her, she loved Henry, she loved Regina and she constantly overlooked her past.

A sudden movement on one of the screens in her office made her flinch and fear shot through her body. Having to deal with a shenanigan a week before Christmas was something she really didn't want to face. The person causing her to flinch was none other than the town's drunken pirate - Killian Jones. She watched him stumble out of an alley whilst clutching a hip flask and frightening her girlfriend and he best friend.

Instantly, Regina felt protective and wanted to appear by Emma's side and simply punch the pirate who was determined that the blonde was in love with him. Instead, she watched as Ruby defended Emma and stunned the drunk standing on the sidewalk. She beamed at the screen as Emma and Ruby continued their walk, but burst into laughter when Killian stumbled and slipped on the ice behind the two.

"Madam Mayor?" Came a timid voice from behind the door. It was Regina's receptionist, Kate. "Is everything okay?"

Regina wiped away one of the tears that had formed from laughing so much and calmed herself before turning to the girl peering behind the door. "Yes, dear. Let's just say I'm incredibly pleased that we decided to fit these cameras."

"Um, Mayor Mills, I know how much you like to watch the town, but..." She stuttered and stared at the floor before continuing. "I over heard Sheriff Swan talking to Ruby Lucas at the diner this morning where she admitted that she's going Christmas shopping today because her father is going to cover the station for her."

"So you want me to stop watching the town because Emma is going shopping?" Regina asked and raised her eyebrows in an attempt to hide her excitement.

"Well, um, yeah." Kate stuttered. "I know that is isn't my place to say, but I think you should let her surprise you, especially since its your first Christmas together."

"No, I think you're right, Kate." Regina forced a smile. She was disappointed that she couldn't get a peak at her Christmas present, but she knew that Emma would want to see the surprise on her face on Christmas morning. "Thank you, dear. Since I need something to take my eyes away from the screens, do you have anything you need me to sign?"

"Yeah, um, there's a rather large pile here if you wanted to make a start on that?" She waited for Regina's nod before retreating to her desk outside the door and quickly returned with a stack of paperwork for Regina. "I've already read through them so all you need to do is sign them."

Regina gave Kate a genuine smile and was soon left to her thoughts. And an incredibly large stack of work. As she began signing and scanning the sheets, Regina couldn't help but let her mind wander towards Emma. The blonde had slowly invaded every thought inside her mind, not that it bothered her, she just worried that she would become too attached and Emma would leave. Just the thought made Regina's stomach turn and flip in several uncontrollable directions.

'Shut up, Regina', she thought to herself, 'She's stopped running, she's not going to leave any time soon.'

Regina let out a sigh and decided to call her girlfriend, just to hear her enthusiastic voice. Maybe hearing Emma would motivate her to get everything completed to make sure she got home early to spend as long as she could with the blonde.

_"Hello, Sheriff Swan speaking."_ Emma said as she answered the call.

"Well hello, Miss Swan."

_"Oh hey, babe! I'm sorry, I overlooked the caller iD thing."_ Just as she expected, Emma's enthusiasm and excitement increased as soon as she knew who was calling her. _"Is everything okay?"_

"Yes dear, I just heard you were skipping out on your sheriff duties." Regina tried to hide her teasing with the sternness of her voice, and apparently Emma was buying it.

_"Yeah, but when you find out why, you're not really going to care. Besides, David is looking after the station and I have my phone so I'm prepared."_ She could practically hear Emma's smile.

"I had better be impressed, Miss Swan."

_"Oh, I think you will be, Madam Mayor."_

"Good. So I saw you talking to Killian Jones this morning."

_"Is that jealousy I hear, Gina?"_

"It might be. I just don't want him troubling you. He worries me a lot, Emma."

_"I know, but he's not getting anywhere between us, I promise."_

Regina smiled to herself, "You had better keep that promise, sheriff. Talking about promises; would you pick up Henry from school today? I think I may be finishing a little later than I had hoped."

_"Sure, just don't stay too late, okay? Since you're going to be late, can I order a pizza for when you get home?"_

"No, you needn't worry, I have plans for us for dinner, okay?"

_"Fine. Babe, I have to go, I just found something perfect!"_ Emma's excited tone was back and made Regina chuckle to herself.

"Okay, have fun. Love you."

_"I love you, too."_

They hung up simultaneously and Regina leaned back into her chair for a little while with a huge beaming smile across her face. Every time she heard Emma say those three little words, her heart would melt and her entire body would feel weak.

Technically, Regina had lied to Emma. She wasn't going to be home late, in fact, she was going to be home long before Henry even finished school. Instead of completing the forms she had been given, Regina placed them in her purse and prayed for snow over the weekend. She stalked out of her office and was met with a timid looking Mary Margaret.

"Regina, hey," She muttered.

"Good afternoon, Ms Blanchard." Regina said, trying to mask the irritation the woman caused her. "What can I do do you?"

"I was wondering if you, Emma and Henry would like to join us on Christmas Day at Granny's?"

"Shouldn't you be asking your daughter this question, Snow?" She rolled her eyes and let out an overdrawn sigh.

"Yes, but I knew she would say to ask you, so I thought I would cut my journey short and just ask you."

"Wise decision, but I'm still going to have to speak to Emma about it-"

"Call her!" Snow cut in before Regina could say any more. "Call her and ask her."

"Fine." Regina took her cell phone from her purse and wandered into a corner of the reception area of the building. "Hello, dear."

_"Are you really missing me that much?"_ Emma chuckled down the phone.

"Maybe a little. But your mother is here. She wants to know if the three of us would like to spend Christmas with your extended family at Granny's."

_"What did you say?"_

"I said that I had to speak to you about it."

_"Wow, that's a first."_

"Very funny, Miss Swan."

_"Do you want to go there? If you don't want to, we don't have to."_

"I want whatever makes you happy, and I'm sure Henry would say the same."

_"Thank you, Regina. I love you."_

"I love you, too."

Regina hung up the call and spun on her heel and returned to Snow, who was grinning wider than usual.

"Emm- we would love to join you." Regina said and bit her tongue as soon as the words escaped her mouth. This was going to be painful.

"Great!" She beamed and ran out of the building.

As much as Regina disliked the woman, she had to admit that she was a good mother. She had accepted Emma when she told her that she was in love with Regina and simultaneously accepted Regina too. Since the two of them came out, both Snow and Charming had defended them through everything.

"Kate, I'm going home early." Regina announced as she glided towards the doors. "You can leave whenever you're ready, I've got all of the paperwork in my purse and I shall see you on Monday."


	3. The Shoes

_Chapter Three._

When Emma ended her second call from Regina, her nerves built until she resulted into a panic attack in the middle of a high fashioned store - Regina's favourite in fact.

"Ems, are you okay?" Ruby rushed to her side and dropped the pair of black Louis Vuitton shoes that Emma was about to buy for Regina.

"This isn't going to happen Rubes. She's going to say no and we're all having Christmas dinner at the diner with my entire family and it's just going to be Henry and I because she's going to say no and leave me and oh my god..." Emma paced and let tears form in her eyes, barely catching her breath between each word that came out of her mouth like word vomit.

"You're being pathetic," Ruby slapped Emma on the back of the head, hoping she would stop crying. "Man up and act like the Charming you are. If the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming can't do this, then I have no hope for anyone else."

Emma stiffed a small laugh and wiped her eyes. "Do you really think I can do this?"

"Is the sky blue, Swan?" Ruby laughed and picked up the shoes she dropped, "Look, if that doesn't make her love you, these surely will."

She handed Emma the Louis Vuitton's and took the bag from the jewellery store out of her hands. As reluctant as she was to let it go, Emma let the bag slide through her fingers and took a deep breath. She couldn't stop her mind from wondering what Regina's reaction would be when Emma presented it to her. Anything is better than a slap, Emma reminded herself.

Once she had paid for the shoes, Emma felt ready to call it a day. Fortunately, she had Henry as an excuse. The clock on her phone read 2:45pm, and Henry finished school at 3:00pm. It gave her enough time to grab her bug and drive straight to the school.

"Thanks for today, Ruby." Emma said as they arrived outside the diner.

"No worries, just don't eff-up, Em." Ruby laughed. "Oh, and try not to act weird around her - she'll know something is up right way."

Emma nodded and jumped into her old yellow bug that she had left outside the diner earlier that morning. She waited for Ruby to disappear inside the diner before she sped towards the school. Her heart raced at the thought of seeing Regina later, she even questioned herself whether she thought she would feel calmer about the entire situation as soon as she was in her arms once again. No chance.

Her arrival at the school was perfect timing. The moment she stopped the car was the very same moment that Henry came running out of the doors and towards her car. She hadn't picked him up from school in a long while, so the look of excitement on his face made her feel warm and fuzzy.

"Ma!" He shouted as he approached the car and threw the passenger side door open. "I thought mom was bringing me home today?"

"She was, but she called me a little while ago to say she was going to be late." She smiled and watched him fiddle with his seatbelt before pulling off once more. "So, how was school?"

"It sucked," He admitted, "Grandma still hasn't been given her job back, my teacher hates me because of you and mom, we're making crappy things out of cardboard and macaroni and all the other kids keep asking me to tell them stories about Neverland."

"Wait, did you say your teacher hates you because of your mom and me?"

Henry nodded, "Yeah, she thinks that because you're the Saviour you should have a suitor and because mom was the Evil Queen, she can't be your suitor."

"That's crap, Henry. Your mom and I have been dating for almost a year and believe me, if we weren't in love, do you really think we would be living together?" Emma laughed and watched Henry's annoyed face instantly turn into an overly excited beam of delight.

"I have an amazing idea." Henry said as fast as he could. "You and mom should get married!"

Emma slammed the breaks on the car as fast as she could, sending the two of them forward and jolting back just as fast.

"Wow, kid, you're beginning to sound like Ruby."

"And Ruby was right about the two of you to start dating... Who says we aren't right now?" He winked and nudged his birth mother a little with his elbow.

"I don't know, Henry." Emma sighed and decided to continue their drive back to the manor. "I don't think neither me or your mom is ready to make things so serious and official."

"Emma, I saw the box in the backseat when you pulled up." Henry deadpanned. "I may be a kid, but I'm not stupid."

"Henry, I need you to be honest with me." Her son nodded immediately. "Honestly, do you think she would say yes if I asked her on Christmas day?"

"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!" he shouted and squirmed in his seat. "Ma, you should know her well enough by now to know she loves all of that mushy stuff. If you propose to her on Christmas, there's no doubt that she would cling onto you like a koala."

Emma laughed at Henry's choice of words, remembering only a few nights ago that Regina had called her 'her little koala bear' because Emma became incredibly clingy at night; especially when they were spooning.

"Okay, but you can't tell her my plan. We'll call this Operation Partridge in a Pear Tree, got it?"

"Got it."


	4. Mistletoe

_Chapter Four._

Regina left her office in a hurry and drove to the mansion as fast as she could, in hope that she could do everything she had intended to do before Emma and Henry got home. She swung her car into the drive and gracefully rushed into the house and picked up the phone.

"Hi, it's Mayor Mills, could I order two large cheese pizzas to 108 Mifflin Street? Oh, and could you make sure that they're here at 4pm on the dot? Thank you."

She knew how much Emma and Henry loved sharing pizzas on a Friday night, so she caved and decided that they could eat their pizza whilst decorating the house ready for Christmas. Now that their food was sorted, Regina trekked into the garage to traipse the Christmas tree the three of them chose into the house.

Pulling it on her own was not as amusing as it had been when the three of them had done it, but she didn't care, she simply couldn't wait to see both Emma and Henry.

When it had just been Regina and Henry, the two of them would decorate the tree together, bake some gingerbread and watch a Christmas movie until Henry fell asleep. But of course, this year would be different. This year, Emma would be here and the three of them would be a proper family.

Once Regina had hauled the tree and the rest of the decorations into the living room, she looked at the clock which read 3:05pm. A beaming smile grew on her face as she sauntered into the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine and two glasses. She knew it would really be a little to early to be drinking, but just one glass wouldn't hurt, would it?

Before she could finish placing both glasses and the wine bottle on the coffee table, the rattling noise of Emma's bug pulling onto the drive filled her ears. In an attempt to control her facial expressions, Regina bit her lip and completely failed to hide the growing smile on her face. She rushed to the front door and opened it before both Emma and Henry got out of the car.

The look of befuddlement on Emma's face made Regina laugh as she gave a tiny wave from the porch. Rather than brining her shopping into the house, Emma left it on the backseat and locked the car - which was something she never did.

"Hey, mom!" Henry said as he ran up the garden path to his mother. "Ma said you were working late..."

"I changed my mind, honey." She smiled and kissed the top of his head. "How was school?"

"It was okay, I guess." He muttered and ran into the house.

"Hmm... Did you change your mind or did you just trick me so you would get home first?" Emma approached Regina with a grin and grabbed the brunette around the waist.

"Well, would it be a crime if it was a little bit of both?" Regina winked and held out her hand in front of Emma, magically transporting a piece of mistletoe onto her palm. "Induldge me? I love a little Christmas cliché."

Regina raised the mistletoe above their heads, making Emma grin like an over excited child. With a quick nod of her head, Emma pulled Regina even closed and plunged her lips straight onto Regina's. The feeling of Regina's lips against her own made Emma's knees feel weak, making her moan a little into the brunette's mouth and hold her tighter.

The six little words Regina had uttered began to ring throughout Emma's mind; 'I love a little Christmas cliqué'. Did she know what Emma had intended? Or was it just coincidental that Regina did actually like the idea of Christmas clichés? Either way, a glimmer of hope shone throughout Emma's body.

Regina pulled away slowly, keeping her eyes closed and let a huge smile appear on her face. No one, other than Henry, had ever made her this happy. It was a feeling she wanted to hold onto forever and never let go. As she opened her eyes, she found Emma staring at her with a grin on her face that only a schoolgirl in love could possess.

"I love you," Emma whispered and lightly kissed the brunette in her grasp once again. "But if we stay out in the cold for any longer, we're going to freeze to death, them I'm sure I won't love you as much."

Regina faked a shocked gasp and gave Emma a teasing jab to the ribs, making the blonde squeal and giggle.

"Come on then, I just brought out a bottle of wine." Regina said and grabbed Emma by the hand, pulling her into the warm manor.

Once they were inside, Regina let Emma's hand go to allow the blonde to take off her boots and her many layers of clothing.

"I'm pretty sure you left here wearing your grubby white tank top, a sweater, your bobble hat, jeans and your Sheriff's jacket..." Regina said as she watched the blonde attempt to strip.

"Well, after a quick chat with my mom, she thought I was going to catch pneumonia and refused to let me leave the apartment unless I agreed to put on two more pairs of pants, another five sweaters and two pairs of gloves." Emma muttered as she fought to pull the first sweater over her head. "Babe, could you help me?"

Regina chuckled and agreed completely. She tugged the sweater over the blonde's head and threw it straight onto the floor before starting on the next layer.

"Don't get too excited, it's barely even 4pm." Emma laughed as Regina pulled the second sweater over her head.

"That's not the point, Miss Swan," Regina began and pulled Emma closer by the bottom of her third layer. "It just that I would much rather be the one keeping you warm than your mothers tatty old Christmas sweaters."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?"

Regina smiled and tore the third layer over Emma's head as quick as she could. Before she knew it, all six sweaters had been removed and Emma stood shivering in her white tank top and three pairs of jeans.

"If you take your extra jeans off, I'll start the fire in the living room and pour us some wine." Regina gave Emma a light kiss and wandered into the living room.


	5. The Star

_Chapter Five._

As soon as Emma had rid of her extra layers, she joined Regina on the couch in front of the fire with a large glass of wine. She draped her arm over Regina's shoulder and let the brunette melt into her embrace. Emma loved the way Regina would fit perfectly into any position against her body and the way that a simple cuddle instantly made her feel warm both inside and out. She tangled her finger's through the brunette's hair and watched the as the fire cast shadows on her tanned skin.

"Did you actually drag that entire tree in here by yourself?" Emma asked, not taking her eyes of the beauty that was her girlfriend.

"Yes, dear. I think you underestimate my strength." Regina teased and snugged her head closer to Emma's chest. "The only thing is, we have to decorate the damn thing."

"I've never actually decorated a Christmas tree, so I'm rather looking forward to it." Emma said, placing a kiss on top of Regina's head and rest her chin in the same place.

"You've never decorated a Christmas tree?!" Henry bellowed as he made an appearance in the doorway.

Emma chuckled and shook her head at the shock on her son's face. Regina was just as shocked, but didn't show it in the way Henry did. Instead, her face filled with sorrow. She knew it was her fault; she knew that Emma's terrible upbringing was her fault and it was something she couldn't replace. She gave the blonde an understanding squeeze around her waisted and kissed her cheek before getting up off the couch.

"Well then, we had better get started." She placed her wine glass on the table and pulled Emma up of the couch to join her. "The pizza should be here soon, so I think we should get a head start, since the two of you will be too busy enjoying your food."

"You ordered pizza?" Emma shouted and instantly became excited. "And this, Regina Mills, is why I love you."

Regina smiled and blushed as Emma pulled her by her waist into a kiss. "Oh dear, is that the only reason?" She asked as she pulled away a little.

"Not in the slightest." Emma smiled and kissed Regina again, completely forgetting that Henry was in the doorway and watching them as she deepened the kiss with her tongue.

The sound of the doorbell and Henry's constant gagging drew them from their kiss sooner than they had hoped. Emma pressed her nose against Regina's before placing a light kiss on her lips and ran towards the door to collect their pizzas. Regina remained in the living room with a large smile on her face and her own arms wrapped around her body. It wasn't even Christmas and Regina already knew that it was going to be the best one yet.

As Emma and Henry bounded back into the living room with pizza boxes in hand and stupid grins on their faces, Regina couldn't help but roll her eyes at her two idiots. As much as she loved them both, she couldn't help but see the Charming roots running through them.

Henry dropped one of the pizza boxes on the coffee table and ran to the kitchen to grab himself a can of soda whilst his moms attempted to drape some fairy lights around the large tree. On his return her found the two of them completely tangled in the lights and laughing through a kiss.

"You guys are so gross." Henry muttered in a disgusted tone and sat on the arm of the couch with a slice of pizza in one hand and his can of soda in the other. "We're never going to decorate this tree if you two continue like this."

Emma burst into a fit of laughter at the sound of her son's demanding tone and had to pull away from Regina's lips. "Clearly he didn't get his sensibilities from me." She chuckled and attempted to untie both herself and Regina, who was blushing and biting her lip in a huddle on the floor.

Once they were untangled and munching on slices of pizza, Emma looked towards the tree in confusion. She had seen people decorating a Christmas tree, but she was never given the opportunity to help do it herself. Even when she lived alone in Boston she didn't decorate one. She refused to celebrate a holiday that was about family when she was completely alone. But this year, she had a family, and as hard as it may be, she was determined to pull through the entire holiday without pitying herself about her future.

"So, what do we do now?" Emma asked as she watched the lights they had draped around the tree flicker.

"Now we add the baubles." Regina handed Emma a few baubles; some were home made and some were expensively store bought.

"You just hang them from random branches like this;" Henry said, grabbing a handful of baubles and placing them on a few low branches of the tree.

Emma nodded and finished her slice of pizza before hanging some of the store bought baubles on the tree. She held onto the hand made ones so she could hang them at the front of the tree for everyone to see. As she continued to hang the baubles, she noticed that both Henry and Regina had decided to join in. Regina reached to put a few closer to the top of the tree but completely failed when her stretch caused her to fall straight into Emma.

"Need a lift?" She asked through a giggle.

Regina blushed and nodded as Emma lifted her by her hips so she could reach the top. They continued to decorate the tree with the baubles Until nothing else could be added. The three of them stood back in awe and watched as the little fairy lights glistened and reflected on some of the baubles. Seeing Emma's child-like grin, Regina took the blonde's hand and rest her head on their shoulders.

"This is beautiful." Emma sighed, leaning her own head onto Regina's. "But I always thought there was a star or something to go on the top of the tree."

"There is!" Henry said as he ran towards the cardboard box which had held all of the baubles. "Since this is your first Christmas and I do it every year, I think you should put it on the top, Ma."

Henry handed Emma the star and smiled as widely as he could towards his mothers. But Emma shook her head in protest and handed the star back to her son.

"What if I lift you so that you can put it on the top," Emma suggested, "that way, both of us had a hand in putting the star on the top. What do you think?"

Henry nodded in approval and walked towards the tree with the star tightly in his grasp. Emma followed and lifted her son as high as she could to allow him to reach the top of the tree. Once the star was safely resting on the top, Emma lowered her son onto the floor and rejoined Regina, who was still staring at the tree in awe.

"Best first Christmas ever." Emma muttered as she give Regina a soft kiss on her cheek.

"_The_ best Christmas ever." Regina corrected. "Even if we are spending it with the Charmings." Her voice turned to a grumble that made Emma chuckle.

"We're spending Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa?" Henry asked like an overactive child. "Yes! Best Christmas ever!"


	6. Pain In My Ribs

_Chapter Six. _

_One Week Later; Christmas Eve._

For the past week Emma had been acting weird around Regina. It started soon after her little Christmas shop with Ruby. However, Regina never questioned the blonde on her abnormal behaviour due to the fact that their bedroom activities seemed to be more exciting and creative than ever before. She knew that Emma wasn't very good at keeping secrets, so she bit her tongue and enjoyed her little late night treats.

As always, Regina was the first person in the house to awaken, but to her surprise, Emma was clinging onto her body tighter than usual with her face buried into the side of the brunette's curvaceous waist. Seeing Emma smiling in her peaceful sleep did nothing but make Regina's heart swell. Emma was such a beautiful and peaceful sleeper, but this time, Regina needed to wake her sleepy beauty due to the uncomfortable position they had fallen asleep in. No matter how hard she tried to wriggle out of Emma's tight grasp, Regina failed to make any leeway; only making the blonde's grasp even tighter.

"Emma, honey," Regina whispered and moved her hips a little in hope that Emma would stir, "Emma, you're crushing my ribs."

Regina wasn't lying; the movement she made with her hips only made Emma's grip even tighter and began to actually hurt Regina's ribs. Deciding to give up on attempting to verbally wake her girlfriend, Regina fought through the crushing feeling of her ribs and began brushing Emma's hair out of her face and onto the pillow she seemed to refuse to use. The light touches made her stir and caused her eyelids to flutter a little before she calmed again.

She rolled her eyes and laughed at the completely unconscious blonde and prayed that Henry would run into their bedroom and jump on the bed in utter excitement over the fact that it was Christmas Eve. That was something he loved to do, and secretly, even if it did frighten the life out of her, Regina loved it too. It was a moment she would have loved for Emma to witness too.

With a deep sigh, Regina gave up and tried to sleep once again. As soon as her eyes were closed, she was abruptly woken by the blonde trying to tear her arm from under her body.

"Regina, babe, wake up." Echoed Emma's voice as she lightly began to shake her body. "Babe, seriously I have cramp in my arm."

Deciding the give the blonde a taste of her own medicine, Regina kept her eyes closed and held a poker face. The longer she lay there, the more Emma began to shake her, causing Regina to focus all of her weight onto Emma's arm underneath her body. The blonde squirmed and attempted to straddle the 'sleeping' brunette, hoping that it would be easier to pry her arm from beneath her girlfriend's body.

"Please..." Emma begged in a childlike tone that made Regina instantly burst into laughter. "You were awake, weren't you?" She gasped as her arm was released. "You are a pain in my ass, Regina Mills."

Emma remained straddled on Regina's hips and decided to torment the brunette even further by trapping her arms above her head. Seeing how much Regina hated to be trapped, Emma chuckled and leaned into the brunette to kiss her deeply.

"And you were a pain in my ribs, Emma Swan." Regina muttered as Emma pulled away from the kiss. "I think you have an apology to make, dear."

Regina smiled at the woman who was still sat on top of her and waited for an apologetic kiss that never seemed to happen. As the blonde hesitated, Regina pouted her bottom lip and gave a discrete wink that instantly turned Emma to mush. Giving in to temptation, Emma lowered herself onto her elbows before taking Regina's face in her hands and pulling her into an even deeper kiss than the first.

"It's Christmas Eve!" Came a voice and a gag from the doorway, making Emma throw herself off Regina and under the covers. "You guys are so gross."

Henry laughed at his childish birth mother and ran towards the bed she shared with his adoptive mother and instantly jumped on top of the sheets. Ignoring Emma's cursing and screams underneath the sheets as he jumped on the bed, his laughter filled the room and instantly made Regina warm and happy to finally be sharing a Christmas with more than one person she loved.

"Come on, Ma!" Henry shouted as he continued to jump. "We've got a busy day and it's snowed!"

"Shit..." Emma muttered under the covers, forcing Regina to lightly kick her in the ribs for her bad language. She climbed out from beneath the covers and snuggled into Regina's side, allowing the brunette to play with her golden locks that had fallen down her back. "Fine, Tigger, stop jumping and tell us what you've got planned for the day."

Henry flopped on the end of the bed and stared at his mothers with a huge grin on his face. "Mom and I usually wake up, have breakfast, build a snowman - if it's snowed of course, then while I'm finishing it, mom would prepare the kitchen for us to make gingerbread, so we would make the gingerbread and eat the majority of it before it cooled, we would go to Granny's for lunch before heading back here to let me grab my sleigh so I could go sledging down the hills, then finally we would waste the rest of the day in front of the TV whilst watching Christmas movies."

Emma nodded and looked up to Regina, who was lost in thought about the previous Christmases where her and Henry had done all of those things. They had often spent their Christmas Eve's with Graham, but this year Regina was more than grateful and relieved that she would be spending it with Emma and she was sure that Henry would be too.

"Come here, kid." Emma said an held out her arm towards Henry, indicating him to snuggle between herself and Regina. "I love you guys so much, okay? So we're gonna do all of the things you used to do, but this year, kid, you've got one extra hand in building a snowman, you've got one more mouth that will be totally willing to steal gingerbread and maybe one more person to sledge with."

Regina smiled at the woman who was still curled into her side and instantly kissed her on the top of her head. She knew how difficult this was going to be for the blonde, but she was constantly willing to hold her hand through the entire holiday, whether she liked it or not.

"We love you too, Ma." Henry smiled and wriggled out of his mothers grasps and took his stance on top of the bed once again. "Last one out of bed makes breakfast and gets attacked by the first snowball!"


	7. Grilled Cheeses and Snowballs

_Chapter Seven._

Emma Swan wasn't the type of person to back down from a bet, but this specific bet involved waking up at the crack of dawn and running straight to the kitchen. As much as she loved the words 'running' and 'kitchen' in the same sentence, the structure of this one made Emma want to curl up into a ball and fall under a sleeping curse.

When Henry announced that the loser had to make breakfast, Emma instantly thought that Regina sucked at this game, so she gave her a little head start, which ended up as her undoing. When she finally dragged herself out of bed and down the stairs in one of Regina's silk robes, she grumbled at the sight of her girlfriend and their son sat on the breakfast bar stools in the middle of the kitchen.

"Let's just hope you're a little faster at getting out of bed tomorrow morning, dear." Regina chucked and handed Emma an apron that read 'kiss the cook'.

Emma rolled her eyes and tied the apron around her waist. This was the last thing she wanted to be doing with her morning. She wandered to the fridge and took out a pack of bacon, a few sausages and some cheese. Henry and Regina shot her a puzzled look but didn't dare question what she was doing, especially since she wasn't really a morning person to begin with. She then continued to cook the sausage and bacon in the same pan as she took out six slices of bread.

Once the bacon and sausages had been cooked and the cheese had been sliced, she added a few pieces of cheese to every slice of bread and added the bread to the same pan. When the cheese began to melt, she added a few pieces of bacon to three slices of the bread and proceeded to cut the sausages into small pieces. Henry watched her every movement and dared not speak a word to both his birth mother or adopted mother.

When she finally added the sausage pieces to the bread slices with bacon, she paired the other three pieces of bread with those that included the meat. She flipped them several times before taking them out of the pan and serving them on three plates.

"Enjoy," she said and gave a little bow. "When you're in the foster system you kinda had to compromise when it came to cooking your own meals. This was my favourite breakfast dish."

Regina raised an eyebrow as she eyed the cholesterol filled sandwich and prodded it with her finger. "How many people died after eating one of these?" She asked in a know-it-all manner.

"Unlike your apple turnovers? None." Emma laughed and took a huge bite out of her sandwich, following Henry, who was already halfway through his own. "Dig in, babe, it'll be the best grilled cheese sandwich you have ever tasted."

Regina squinted her eyes into a glare and reluctantly took a bite into the grease and cholesterol filled sandwich. She felt Henry's eyes on her in expectation and Emma simply grinned at her.

"Emma, how are you not dead yet?" Regina asked as seriously as she could and utterly confused the blonde. "I can feel my arteries clogging already. You're going to give yourself a heart attack if you eat anymore of these."

"Fine, if you don't like it, I'll finished yours." Emma said in an attempt to snatch the sandwich from Regina's hands.

"I don't think so." Regina laughed and took another bite into the grilled cheese. As greasy and fattening as it was, Regina actually enjoyed it.

As soon as they had finished their breakfast and Emma tormented Regina to obey the apron, Henry dragged his two mothers upstairs to get dressed so they could build their snowman. This was something Emma had actually done whilst growing up. During her time in the system, building snowmen over the holiday period was the only thing she could do to take her mind off the fact that she didn't have a family to share the joy and festivities of the holiday. But knowing that she would be making the snowman with her son and the woman of her dreams made her want to burst with excitement.

The three of them stood on the front porch wearing several layers of clothing, scarves that were wrapped up to their chins, hats pulled down to their eyebrows and layers of gloves that made their hands appear to be twice the size that they actually were. Henry was the first to climb down the steps and jumped straight into the snow, instantly making himself soaking wet and freezing cold.

"Fire!" Henry shouted as he grabbed a handful of snow and rolled it into a ball.

Regina instantly knew what he meant and quickly decided to find cover and left Emma alone on the porch looking completely baffled. Before it registered to the blonde what her sone was talking about, she was hit square in the face with a snowball, making Regina and Henry burst into hysterical laughter. Once she had flicked all of the snow off her face, Emma glared at her son with a cocky grin and slowly began to descend the steps.

"Oh really? Is that the game you want to play, kid?" Emma quipped, tilting her head to the side in pity of her son's fate.

Henry audibly gulped and backed up a few paces before running across the front yard to find a place to hide. Emma chuckled menacingly as she gathered enough snow in her hands to make two snowballs to throw at her son. Before he could hide, Emma threw one of the snowballs at Henry, which caught him in the back of the head and sending him straight to the floor in a fit of laughter.

"I've told you before and I'll tell you again, kid," Emma said and walked towards her son, "you don't mess with me."

Her cockiness made Regina give in and decide to pelt her girlfriend with the snowballs she had been sneakily making whilst Emma threw her own at Henry.

Every ball of snow hit Emma in different places, making it hard to defend herself as she squirmed and screeched like a child.

"I'm going to get you, Regina, if it is the last thing I do!" Emma mimicked and grabbed handfuls of snow to throw back at the brunette.

"Oohhh..." Henry chimed, watching his mothers discretely flirt and play fight.

Regina let out a loud cackle as the majority of Emma's snowballs missed her. Having the advantage, Regina eased up on the snowballs and waited for Emma to start approaching her to get a better aim.

"You're not very good at this, are you?" Regina said, eyeing her handiwork. "It might be easier to make a snowman if we just use you as a base, Miss Swan, since you happen to have more snow on your body than there is on the garden path."

Emma glared at Regina, who was still cackling, and ran straight towards her, accidentally knocking her to the ground with the impact of her hug. As the landed in the snow, Emma couldn't stop herself from laughing and pulled the brunette into a kiss.

"That's a shame," Emma muttered with her lips still attached to Regina's, "It looks like Henry's going to have to use the both of us as bases since you're now covered in as much snow as I am."

Henry rolled his eyes at the scene and threw a snowball at each of his mothers, who were hesitant about getting up off the floor.

"I love you," Regina whispered as she kissed Emma one more time.

"I... I love you, too." Emma muttered and pushed herself off the floor.

"Well, that wasn't very convincing."

"I'm sorry," Emma pulled Regina up off the floor and into her arms once again, "I love you."

Regina smiled and took Emma's hand to pull her towards their son to begin building their snowman.


	8. You're an Idiot

_Chapter Eight. _

After spending ten minutes trying build a snowman with Emma and Henry, Regina's lips began to turn blue and her shivers turned into a series of convulsions. The three pairs of gloves she wore on her hands were soaked through to her skin and occasionally dripped. As much as she wanted to continue helping to build the snowman, Regina couldn't bare another moment of the cold chill throughout her body. As Henry began making the head for the snowman, Emma noticed how oddly silent Regina was.

"Someone's awfully quiet." Emma noted before turning around to see Regina physically shaking. "And insanely cold. Why didn't you say anything?!"

Emma wrapped her arms around the brunette in an attempt to warm her. As much as Regina wanted to stay in the position and watch their son, the fact that Emma was just as wet and cold really didn't do anything to help her temperature to increase. She motioned her head towards the door and gave Emma a light kiss.

"Henry, do you and Emma want to finish the snowman while I warm up and make us some hot chocolate?" She asked, to which Henry nodded and pulled Emma towards the snowman.

As soon as Regina disappeared into the house, Henry threw all on the snow in his hands onto the floor and crossed his arms across his chest. "I... I... I... Loveyou." Henry mimicked his birth mother. "Seriously, that was lame."

"Shut up, kid." Emma laughed and gave her son a gentle nudge. "I'm nervous, okay?"

"Yeah, well it sounded like you were being forced at gun point to say it. I know you love her, and you know she loves you, you shouldn't be so nervous about it!" Henry may only be thirteen, but he spoke like he was seventy. "Operation Partridge in a Pear Tree is going to fail if you don't man up! Do you want my mom or not?"

"Do you really think I would be here if I didn't?" Emma asked and decided to get back to finishing the snowman to take her mind off the proposal. "You know how bad I am at expressing how I feel. Maybe I should just forget about the whole idea and just wait until she starts dropping hints. You know how subtle she is."

"You're an idiot." Henry muttered.

"Excuse me?" Emma sounded offended at her sons's harsh words.

"You're the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. You're the product of true love and you're considering abandoning Operation Partridge in a Pear Tree. Like I said, you're an idiot."

"Then help me, kid. How the hell am I going to do it?"

* * *

"Henry! Emma!" Regina's voice echoed from inside the house. "Come get your cocoa!"

Emma and Henry nodded at each other in a silent agreement of a race into the house. They each pushed and shoved the other and skid into the kitchen to find Regina in fresh clothes and a scowl on her face. Neither Emma nor Henry realised that they had actually made puddles throughout the house and were still dripping wet.

"It's like caring for two children." Regina sighed and waved her hand over Emma and Henry, instantly drying them and changing their clothes. "Henry, your grandfather wants to take you sledging this year and Emma, your mother wants us to help out at the diner."

Regina rolled her eyes and ungracefully slumped herself on her elbows on the breakfast bar. The idea of spending Christmas with Snow was bad enough, but having to spend Christmas Eve with her too made Regina regret agreeing to go to the diner for Christmas all together.

When the three of them had finished their cocoa, Regina insisted that Emma and Henry wore another layer under their coats, just incase Snow accused her of not taking care of her precious daughter and grandson. They argued, of course, but eventually obliged when Regina offered to incinerate at least one of their gifts. Once they were all outside, Regina slipped her hand into the comfort of Emma's and Henry refused to leave unless he was pulled on his sledge behind his mothers. Rolling her eyes and sighing, Emma eventually agreed and dragged Henry to the diner with one hand and held Regina close with the other.

On their arrival, Snow was already erratic; she had even irritated Granny to the point where she was sat outside the diner, soothing an incredibly full glass of whiskey. Fortunately for them, Granny had agreed to close the diner all day so they could prepare the room for their overly extended family. Before they could open the door, Charming came running out, almost knocking Emma and Regina to the ground.

"Thank gods you two are here." He huffed and gave Emma a quick hug. "She is going insane in there. I can't deal with it."

Regina raised her eyebrows at the challenge and smirked. "This should be fun."

"As much as you want to, Regina, don't kill her." He warned and headed towards Henry, who was still sat in his sledge. "Ready to go, buddy?"

Emma and Henry waited for Charming and Henry to leave before commending their fate by entering the diner with Snow pacing the room with her hands on her hips. Her face was like thunder and Ruby looked seriously worried. In all the time Emma had known her mother, never had she seen the woman this enraged.

"There you are!" She shouted as the couple entered the diner. "We've been waiting for you for far too long. Regina, I called you an hour ago and you merely decided to stroll over. No, thats fine, Christmas will just be ruined because we're not going to have enough time to prepare everything and-"

Regina waved the hand that wasn't holding Emma's in the air and everything seemed to stop. Snow had stopped mid-sentence, Granny's glass was about to touch her lips outside and Ruby remained still in the corner.

"You have to teach me that one." Emma chuckled and began unbuttoning her coat. "So, what do you usually do to prepare for a Christmas meal?"

"Well, we've got an hour, so I thought we could spend the first half on ourselves," Regina winked at the blonde, who was hanging up her coat on the rack and nervously glancing at the floor, "And then we could spend the other half actually doing the things your mother is worried about."

"Should we not just do all of the preparations for her now?" Emma wondered and poured herself and Regina a small glasses of cider. "Maybe we can leave earlier and finish wrapping Henry's gifts before he gets home."

"Okay… Something is up. What is it?" She demanded and took of her own coat to place it on the rack. "You've been acting weird over the past week and I didn't want to say anything, but now you're really acting strange. In all the time we have been together, never have you turned down sex."

"I'm a little tired, that's all." Emma nauseatingly sipped at her cider and refused to make eye contact with the brunette.

"There's something you're not telling me, Miss Swan."

"Look, tomorrow is Christmas and I'm just a little nervous, okay?" Emma panicked, "I just don't want to screw it all up since it's my first real Christmas."

"Oh, Emma." Regina sighed and crossed the room to pull Emma into a longing hug. "You are not going to screw anything up. This Christmas will be perfect no matter what happens because you're here and you're here with Henry and I. That's more than either of us could ask for."

Emma smiled and felt a glimmer of hope rise in her heart as she leaned in to kiss the brunette. The moment their lips touched, Emma knew that the decision she was in the middle of making was the right one. She was going to propose to Regina on Christmas morning and the woman of her dreams would say yes. That was her Christmas wish; that's all she wanted. She already had Henry and her parents, now all she wanted was Regina.

Pulling away, Regina stroked the blonde's cheek and looked deep into the green orbs that were staring into her own chocolate globes. "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you, too." This time, Emma's voice didn't quiver or stutter; this time she felt confidence in her words.

Regina smiled and began to move the tables around the diner, hoping that Emma would help her so that their job would be half as much as they hoped it would be.

The hour passed and Emma had never been so grateful for time to run out. They had positioned themselves in front of Snow in the exact same position that they had been before Regina froze time; well, they were in the exact same position with large glasses of cider and minus their coats. Emma placed a quick kiss on Regina's cheek just before time started moving again and shot a wide smile at her mother who looked completely befuddled.

"And we're going to be…" She stopped talking and glared at her daughter and her former step-mother before turning around to see the diner completely ready for their Christmas dinner the next day. "What did you do?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, dear." Regina smirked and took a large swig of her cider, enjoying the scene that was unfolding in front of her eyes.

"You…you…how?…what?…" Snow stuttered, still unable to form actual sentences. "How did you even?"

"Look, mom, calm down!" Emma attempted to reassure the overreacting brunette in front of her, "Regina wanted to help, so she did. Now you don't have to do anything because it's all done."

Snow shot a glare at the smiling women in front of her and huffed. "Fine. But I'm going to need to check everything; if one thing isn't done, the two of you are going to have to do it, just because of the smug looks on your faces."

Ruby finally decided to escape the corner of the room and grabbed Emma by the wrist. "I'm going to need to borrow her for a second, Regina." She shot over her shoulder and dragged Emma to the back of the diner, leaving Regina alone with her thoughts and her large glass of cider.

"Rubes, what are you doing?" Emma asked as she was squeezed into one of the small rooms so no one could listen in on their conversation.

"Henry texted me to tell me you've been acting weird and he wanted me to give you this;" Ruby whacked Emma across the back of the head before continuing. "So, what did he mean by 'you're acting weird'? What have you done? Does she know? Oh my god she knows, doesn't she?"

"Owch! And no, she doesn't know." Emma whispered harshly as she rubbed the back of her head. "What he means is that I almost gave up."

"Oh, Ems, you're an idiot."

"Yeah, don't worry, Henry already told me that this morning."

"Man up and go back out there and flirt like mad." Ruby began to push Emma back out of the door but failed miserably.

"No way." Emma protested. "She's already picked up that I'm acting weird. If I go out there and begin flirting, she'll definitely know something is up and she'll clearly know that you're in on it too."

"You're right." Ruby nodded, "Just go back out there, act normal and _don't_ mess it up."


	9. Milk and Cookies

_Chapter Nine._

Snow had argued that Emma and Regina missed only one thing when they prepared the diner for their Christmas dinner. Apparently, they couldn't leave until they had hung several pieces of mistletoe around the room. Once they had completed their final request, Granny prepared two take out cups with hot chocolate and a double shot of whiskey in each cup to 'keep them warm'.

Henry had arrived home an hour after his mothers, with the forewarning from Charming, who had send a quick text to his daughter to inform her of their whereabouts. Regina had put a quick cloaking spell over the last of their son's presents after pushing them all into the corner behind the Christmas tree. She knew she wouldn't forget where they were because Emma's were hidden in exactly the same place.

When he entered the house on Mifflin Street, Henry found his mothers curled up together on the couch whilst watching a Christmas rom-com. Rather than disturbing them, he quickly retreated to the bathroom to take a shower and change his clothes for the third time that day, before trudging down the stairs to beg his mothers to bake gingerbread with him.

Regina shot Emma a death glare when she learnt that the blonde had never baked gingerbread before. The thought of Emma's terrible childhood pained Regina. As difficult as her own upbringing had been, hearing how bad Emma's had been over the Christmas holiday made her childhood seem like that of a fairy tale, which ironically; it was.

"No, Emma you've got to knead it." Regina said and began to guide Emma from behind on how to knead the dough, rather than punch it several times. "Push it with the palm of your hand, no, not that fast and not your fingers."

Emma looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow at Regina's poor choice of words.

"Oh, grow up," Regina laughed as she took the dough out of Emma's hands and wrapped it in clear film to put it in the fridge next to Henry's. "Emma, since you're an absolute child in the kitchen, go and entertain Henry whilst I cook dinner."

"Fine." Emma grinned at the fact that she wouldn't have to do any work.

"Oh, and Emma," Regina called as Emma began leaving the kitchen, "Be careful with what you say about Santa Clause."

"Why?" Emma quizzed, having a feeling that she knew where the conversation was going. "Santa Clause isn't real, right?"

"No, honey. But Henry still believes." Emma's chuckle made Regina roll her eyes, "After everything you've seen over the last year and a half, did you honestly not question whether or not he was real?"

"Maybe once... But Ruby slapped me when I asked her."

"Just let him believe for a little while longer, okay?" Regina ignored Emma's comment and began moving around the kitchen to prepare their dinner.

As Emma joined Henry in the living room, the first thing she wanted to do was to grill him about the fact that he told Ruby about her weird behaviour, but ruled against it when she caught him wrapping presents for his grandparents.

"I thought I told you not to get anything for them." She said as she leaned against the door frame, making Henry jump. "Your mom and I told you that we were going to get them gifts from the three of us so you wouldn't have to spend your money on them."

"Well, I bought them the things they asked for, unlike you two." Henry replied in a know-it-all manner. "What else did you buy mom?"

"Do you really think I'm going to tell you in here? The woman has eyes all around the town, I can only imagine if she's got both eyes and ears around this house!" The way she overreacted made Henry laugh, but he knew she was right.

The two sat in silence while Henry finished wrapping his grandparents Christmas presents, which left Emma to sit in front of the fire and plan out her intentions for the next morning, even though she knew that the entire thing would end up being a complete spur of the moment. She almost wished that she could run into the kitchen at that very moment, fall down on one knee and ask her right away. Henry watched his mother sit in silence and contort her face into all sorts of weird expressions before he knew he had to say something to snap her out of the phase.

"I know what you're thinking and it's a terrible idea." He said, taking a seat by the side of her and resting his head on her shoulder. "Don't even think about it. Do it when the time is right; not because you're too afraid that you'll chicken out. Besides, Ruby would kick your butt if you did it right now."

"Ruby would kick her butt if she did what 'right now'?" Regina asked as she appeared in the doorway with her arms crossed, frightening both Emma and Henry.

"If she um... If she..." Henry stuttered, failing to decipher a good enough reason to what his mother heard.

"If I tried to find and open one of my Christmas presents." Emma blurted. "Ruby told me not to try because apparently that spoils Christmas."

"Miss Lucas was right for once; it would spoil Christmas, so don't even think about it." Regina's suspicion only grew when Henry let out a sigh on relief and Emma wiped her brow. "Dinner is ready, so stop plotting your little schemes and come and join me."

For Emma, their Christmas eve dinner was one of the single most awkward meals that the three of them had ever sat through. Henry loved every second of it as his excitement for the next day built to levels even Regina hadn't seen before. The majority of their dinner was spent in silence as Henry kept looking between his mothers with a huge grin on his face. Emma began to feel physically sick with nerves and Henry clearly wasn't helping with the situation.

When Henry declared that he had finished his food, he quickly rushed out of the dining room and left his mothers alone. Emma had turned completely pale and her hand trembled a little when she took a sip of her cider.

"Are you okay?" Regina asked as she placed a hand on top of Emma's. "You look a little pale and you're shaking... You're worried about tomorrow, aren't you?" Emma nodded a little and bit her lip. "Everything is going to be fine. You're going to have a wonderful day, so are Henry and I. And who knows, maybe your mother and I won't break out into a huge fight at Granny's"

Emma chuckled and squeezed Regina's hand, "I'm most certainly not holding my breath with that one."

"Yeah, me neither." Regina smiled and tucked a piece of Emma's hair behind her ear, "Emma, I don't understand why you're so worried, it's just a holiday. We're going to have another one next year, and the year after that and we're going to have one every year until we die, so quit worrying about it and just enjoy it."

When Emma heard that Regina believed they would be spending every single holiday together for the rest of their lives, her eyes filedl with tears. She felt as though this was Regina giving her permission to propose, even if she didn't know about it. Her temptation to fall on one knee only began to grow, that was until Henry burst through the door and insisted that they should all watch The Grinch with mugs of hot chocolate before he went to bed.

* * *

Just as the movie came to an end, Henry let out an almighty yawn and snuggled into Emma's side as Regina got up to remove the disc from the player. Henry was almost asleep when Regina nudged him.

"Henry, do you want to leave out some milk and cookies for Santa Clause, dear?" Regina said in a hushed tone and stroked some of his hair across his forehead.

Henry nodded in an attempt to shake away some of his tiredness and ran towards the kitchen, only for him to return moments later with a plate of gingerbread cookies that they made earlier, a glass of milk and a carrot.

"What's the carrot for?" Emma asked, feeling as if it was the stupidest question she had ever asked.

"It's for Santa's reindeers!" Henry said, allowing his excitement to take over once more. "Should I put these in the window again, mom?"

"Where ever you want to put them, sweetie." Regina smiled and wrapped her arm around Emma's waist. "Is this really that strange for you?"

"Yeah, I mean in the houses we would get a tiny hamper with toiletries in it, but that's all that happened. No one really wanted to celebrate it because, well, none of us had families and that's what it's all about." Emma sighed and watched Henry rearrange the cookies on the plate and aligned thea carrot next to the plate, "It wasn't until this week that I really understood what Christmas was about; it's all about family, isn't it? And that was something I never had, but since it's my first Christmas and I have a huge family around me, I guess I should be happy, shouldn't I?"

"Only if it makes you happy." Henry said, joining their conversation and running towards the two to pull them both into a suffocating hug. "I love you both so much."

"I am happy, Henry. And we love you, too." Emma grinned and kissed the top of Henry's head before lightly placing a kiss on Regina's lips. "Okay, kid, time for bed, otherwise Santa Clause won't arrive because he'll know that you're awake!"

Henry's eyes widened in shock as he spun on his heel and sprinted up the stairs, making his mothers giggle at his quick reaction. He placed his stocking on the end of his bed and dived under his sheets for his mother's to tuck him into bed before he drifted off into a deep and dream filled sleep.

* * *

"So you get to eat the gingerbread and drink the milk to make it look like Santa had it?" Emma asked as she watched Regina pick up two gingerbread cookies and handed one to the blonde.

"Yep, we also have to sneak into his bedroom to fill his stocking." She muttered while biting the head off the gingerbread man in her hand. "Could you help me stack all of his presents on the couch? Then you're going to have to leave because I need to put yours over here too."

"Where should I put yours?" Emma asked as she picked up one of the biggest presents for Henry.

"You've bought me presents?"

"Don't give me that crap, Regina, you know I've bought you some. It's not much, but its what I could afford."

"I didn't want anything but you and Henry." Regina said, pulling Emma into a tight hug. "The two of you are all I ever wanted."

Emma smiled and pulled Regina even closer before running her fingers through the brunette's hair, which eventually led to Emma pulling her into a deep kiss.


	10. Operation Partridge in a Pear Tree

_Chapter Ten._

After a difficult nights sleep, Emma was shook awake by her son, who had decided to climb on top of the bed she shared with Regina to wake his mothers at the ungodly hour of 6am. Emma glanced over to find Regina still fast asleep and curled into a little ball by the side of her. The smile on Henry's face was something Emma couldn't overlook. In all the time she had known him, she had never seen him look so excited as she had done over the past few days.

"Wake her, Ma." Henry whispered as he hauled his overflowing stocking onto the bed. "Wake her!"

Emma sighed and wrapped her arms around Regina, making the woman flinch at the unexpected contact. "Good morning," Emma whispered as Regina's eyes fluttered open. "Merry Christmas, beautiful."

"Merry Christmas to you, too." Regina smiled and leaned towards Emma to give her a morning kiss, but was advised not to when she head her son clear his throat. "Good morning, Henry! Merry Christmas, sweetheart."

Emma hoisted herself up into a sitting position and held her arm out for Regina to snuggle up to her side to watch their son tear apart his neatly wrapped stocking. Regina had truly outdone herself with Henry's stocking fillers. She had bought him a new watch, some CDs, a couple of books and far too much candy, which Regina knew that Emma would end up eating anyway.

"Can we go downstairs now?" Henry asked as he finished unwrapping all of his little gifts. "Pretty please? If Santa Clause could make a stocking as cool as this one, then I can only imagine what's under the tree!"

"Of course, Henry, but I have to use the bathroom first," Regina said as she rubbed her eyes and pushed herself off the bed. "But i need you to pick up all of this wrapping paper first."

Henry nodded and waited for the bathroom door to close before pouncing on his birth mother. "Do it now!" He whispered, almost pushing Emma out of bed. "Operation Partridge in a Pear Tree is a go!"

She knew that this was the right time. Before Henry had mentioned it, she had been considering it, so Regina's quick bathroom break was the perfect excuse for her to dig out the box and prepare herself. Going over the top was never something Emma did, so having the simplicity of the three of them in their pyjamas and looking as though they hadn't slept a wink all night was something that would add another quirk to their relationship.

Romance and attempting to woo was never one of Emma's strong suits to begin with, so after watching several cheesy wedding proposals on the Internet, she decided to check out a few overly planned proposals and much preferred the cheesy, unexpected and completely unplanned way of doing things. If she was going to do it, then she was going to wing it.

Emma quickly pulled the box out from her secret hiding spot under the bed, pulled a brush through her golden waves and took a deep breath. Regina was taking her own sweet time in the bathroom and Emma's nerves began to rise. Her palms began to sweat, her heart began to race and she quickly began to feel dizzy from the butterflies in her stomach.

As Regina opened the bathroom door, Emma cleared her throat and began descending into a kneeling position, attempting to forget about all of the whirring feelings throughout her being. Regina slowly approached the kneeling blonde and lost the ability to control her dropping jaw. Neither of them spoke until Regina was stood directly in front of Emma.

"I didn't really know how to do this," Emma began, "but it just felt right when I had the idea, and I know how much you love Christmas clichés,"

"Emma..." Regina tried to interrupt when she realised what Emma was trying to do, even if the fact hadn't properly registered yet.

"There are so many ways in which I could have done this, but with all of the complications we've been through in our relationship, I thought that simplicity would be the only way to do this." Emma took another deep breath before looking up at the woman standing before her. "Regina Mills, you are the love of my life and the mother of my son, so I am down on one knee to ask you the biggest question I will ever ask in my whole entire life," She said as she opened the box to reveal the ring, "Will you marry me?"

Regina's jaw dropped even further in utter shock. She had hoped for her and Emma to get married one day, but never did she expect Emma to get down on one knee and actually propose without any suggestive hints. She didn't even expect that the blonde would be able to keep such a secret from her, but she had, and Regina was completely gobsmacked.

"Emma..." Regina stuttered and let her tears fill her eyes. Her mouth refused to form the 'yes', even though she wanted to scream it at the top of her lungs. Instead, rather than attempting to actually say the word, Regina covered her mouth and nodded as fast as she could, causing the tears to stream down her face.

The tears building in Emma's own eyes were now streaming down her face as she grinned at the woman who had just agreed to marry her. Before she could even register the fact that she had to put the ring on Regina's finger, she stood up, wrapped her arms around her fiancé's waist and pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss, completely forgetting that Henry was still in the room.

"Woohoo!" Henry shouted at the top of his lungs and began jumping for joy in his mothers' bed. The sound of their son in celebration made the couple laugh and pull away, leaving their foreheads touching and their eyes closed. "Ma, you've actually got to put the ring on her finger to make it official."

"That I do," Emma said as she opened her eyes to look into Regina's. Both brown and green eyes were still filled with tears of joy. "I love you, Regina, and I want you to know that you will always have my heart."

She pulled the ring out of the box and took Regina's left hand in her own to slide the ring onto her finger. The fit was perfect and obviously so was the ring because Regina burst into tears once again and threw her arms around Emma's neck to pull her into another kiss.

Regina's first engagement had been to Daniel, the man she had believed for so long to be her true love, but after his death and reappearance in Storybrooke, she realised that she was never truly in love with him, but she was really in love with the idea of having someone to love her. That was the moment where she actually began to realise that she was in love with Emma. It had taken her far too long to actually realise it, but when she had, it felt as though she had always been with Emma and always would be.

"Emma, it's perfect." She said as she marvelled in the ring on her finger, "I love you so much." Emma smiled at the brunette in her arms in relief. "Is this why you've been acting so weird lately? You were worried that I was going to say no, weren't you?"

"Maybe a little," Emma admitted and blushed at the thought.

"Emma Swan," Regina said in a demanding tone, "Do you really think that I would turn you down? Oh my gods, there were hints everywhere, weren't there? How could I have been so blind?"

"It'll be Swan-Mills soon, and yes, I was a little worried that you would say no." She cupped Regina's face in her hands and smiled. "I'm glad you were blind in all of this because otherwise it would have ruined Christmas."

"Swan-Mills?" Regina questioned with a raised eyebrow, "I agreed to marry you dear, not take your surname."

"Ah, but you never said that you didn't like it." Emma teased and pulled Regina closer.

"Yes dear, but I never said that I liked it either." Regina gave a sinister smile and quickly gave Emma a light kiss on her lips.

"This is really cute and everything, you guys, but seriously, I want to get down stairs now." Henry said as she jumped off the bed and hugged his mothers to hide the fact that he was attempting to push them out of the room.

"Henry Swan-Mills, you are just as impatient as your grandmother." Regina muttered with a raised eyebrow before turning to face Emma. "I could definitely get used to a double-barrelled surname."

Emma couldn't help but laugh at how fast Regina had caved at the idea of both keeping her surname and taking fiancé's too. By now, Emma had completely forgotten about the nerves and butterflies that she had been facing almost moments ago, but instead began to feel whole for the first time in her life. With her new fiancé gripping onto her waist as tight as possible and their son jumping around the room as happy as could be made Emma grin like an idiot. Not only had she been welcomed into her son's life, but she had also found the love of her life in under two years.


	11. Presents

_**A/N: hey guys! Okay, so this is just a message to say a massive thank you to all of the wonderful reviews I've had on this story and to all of those who have followed and fave'd because it means a lot! I also wanted to apologise for this chapter; it's a little half assed because this was a chapter I didn't really think through so it's just a filler before the next chapter. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it and hopefully review ;)**_

_**Happy holidays!**_

_**xoxo**_

* * *

_Chapter Eleven._

With Henry's persistent nagging, his mothers finally agreed to take him downstairs to open his main Christmas presents from 'Santa Clause'.

"Come on, you guys!" Henry shouted as he ran down the stairs with his mothers in tow. "I want to give you your present!"

Emma and Regina followed behind at a much slower pace with their hands clasped together and their fingers tangled. Every few moments, Regina would hold up her left hand to admire the ring Emma had given her. The band was silver and held in place a large rose quartz stone with a diamond on either side.

"You know, the rose quartz unconditional love, right?" Emma asked her fiancé with a light squeeze of her hand as they continued to descend the staircase. "There's also a little message on the inside of the band."

Emma flashed a smile at Regina, kissed her cheek and ran down the stairs alone to make two cups of black coffee to ensure that they got through their day. Regina on the other hand, had stopped on the staircase to pull off her ring and read the message on the inside of the band. She looked closely and read the words: 'You stole my heart'.

"Mooommm…" Henry groaned. "I know your happy, but come on!"

Regina grinned and slid the ring back on her finger before joining her son at the bottom of the stairs. She wrapped her arms around Henry's shoulders and pulled him into a highly unwanted hug, but accepted it anyway.

"I love you, Henry." She whispered as she kissed the top of his head.

"Okay, let's see what Santa brought for you, kid!" Emma said as she approached from the kitchen with the cups of coffee and handing one to Regina with a wink.

Opening the door to the living room, Henry let out a loud gasp and ran straight into the room and towards his mountainous pile of gifts in the middle of the room.

"Is that really all I stole, dear?" Regina asked as she bumped her hip into Emma's and walked into the room to join her overexcited son.

Before opening any of his own presents, Henry reached beneath the tree and took out a large, roughly wrapped box and placed it between his mothers. "Merry Christmas!" He shouted and watched the two women before him tear off the wrapping paper to reveal a triple box set of walkie talkies. "Before the two of you dated, Ma and I used to talk with Graham's old walkie talkies, but they got destroyed, so when Ma told me she was going to propose I thought that it would be awesome if the three of us were constantly connected!"

"Kid, these are awesome!" Emma said as she pulled her son between herself and Regina for a rib crushing hug. "The only thing is; the only time the three of us are separated is when you're and school and your mom and I are at work. So when do you intend on using these?"

"I'm sure we can find a way to use them regularly, Henry." Regina lightly swatted Emma's arm before kissing Henry light on the cheek. "Thank you, sweetheart, they're a wonderful idea."

Henry beamed in his mothers' grasps and wiggled out lightly to begin tearing into his own presents. Emma had been determined to help Regina with the Christmas shopping for their son, but instantly felt guilty when she knew that she couldn't afford to pay for all of the things they had bought for him. Regina however, didn't care. All she wanted was for Emma to be a part of their family and actually help her with the shopping; which she had always done alone.

Emma and Regina snuggled into each other on the couch whilst sipping their black coffee and watching Henry tear into a present and start shouting with excitement. He let out a loud scream when he opened on of the presents Emma was determined that they bought for him; an Xbox.

"This is so awesome!" He shouted as he clutched the box in his hand. "Mom, can I play this now? Ma, you have to play with me on a zombie game!"

"Henry, don't you think you should open some of your other presents first?" Regina asked as Emma chuckled at their hyper son.

"Fine." He sighed, sounding a lot like his birth mother. "But can I play with it before we go to Granny's for our Christmas meal?"

Regina nodded and continued to watch Henry rip open his gifts.

"I told you he would like it, didn't I?" Emma whispered into Regina's ear before she reached over to one of the bags beside the couch and took out a shoebox, "This was actually my back-up plan for that," she pointed to the ring on Regina's finger, "So, merry Christmas."

Regina looked at the blonde with raised eyebrows as she took the box from her grasp and disposing of her coffee cup on the coffee table in front of her. She knit her eyebrows at the blonde before she tore into the wrapping paper and ripped the lid of the box in an identical manner to the way Henry had done only moments ago.

"You bought me Louis Vuitton's?!" Regina yelled as she tore through the paper that covered the shoes inside the box before abandoning the shoes on the end of the couch and throwing her arms around Emma's neck. She began planting several kisses on Emma's mouth whilst attempting hide a grin. "And that, Miss Swan, is why I love you."

"Swan-Mills, mom!" Henry chuckled as he held a jacket against his body to size it up, "Besides, they're just shoes. I could have bought you shoes and you would have been happy."

"Just shoes?" Regina repeated and leaned away from Emma.

"Kid, you need to run." Emma warned in a serious tone.

"Henry Swan-Mills, they are not 'just shoes', they are Louis Vuitton's." Regina's act of false rage built as she stood from the couch and began to advance towards Henry, who didn't know whether to laugh or run. "They are not just shoes."

Henry bit away a smile as she stood directly in front of him before he decided that the only thing he could do was to run. He ducked, dodged and dived as Regina caught him in her arms and began to tickle and squeeze her squirming son.

"Ma, help me!" He squealed from Regina's grasp.

"No way, kid," Emma pushed herself off the couch and stood by Regina's side with a sinister grin on her face. "They are not just shoes, they were freaking expensive!"

Before Henry could attempt to flee anymore, Emma advanced on him and she too decided to gang up on him by tickling his ribs just as much as Regina. He continued to squirm and yelp until he actually became weak and his breath was ragged.

"I knew this engagement was a bad idea; you're never going to stop ganging up on me, are you?" Henry sighed as he dropped himself onto the floor next to a heap of presents he still hadn't opened with a defeated sigh.

"No way."

* * *

Although Emma couldn't afford much, she had borrowed money from her mother with full intention of returning it, just so she could buy Regina some Christmas presents. Her shopping trip with Ruby may have been incredibly short, but she had actually managed to max out her mother's credit card within a few short hours.

Emma handed Regina five untidily wrapped presents, of which she received five grateful kisses for before the presents were unwrapped. Each present contained a dress; each showed Regina's taste and class with an element of sexiness just for Emma's pleasure when she wore them. Regina's favourite just so happened to be Christmas Red, above the knee and fitted. To prove her appreciation, she vowed to wear it with her Louis Vuitton's for the Christmas meal with her fiancé's family.

When Regina had opened her presents from Emma, she dragged a large bag filled with gifts in front of the blonde. Looking confused at the fact that all of the gifts inside were for her, Emma secretly couldn't wait top open all of them.

The first gift she opened was a brand new red leather jacket. Emma's eyes instantly filled with tears, but she continued to unwrap the gifts in the bag. When she had finished and looked at all of the things she had, Regina had bought her two other leather jackets - a brown one and a black one, a purple dream catcher, more candy that anyone but Emma could even dream of eating, some winter boots and a necklace with a heart shaped locket that featured a photo of Henry in one half and Regina in another. Lastly, Regina handed Emma one final gift.

"It's a photo album." Regina stated once the wrapping had been torn off. "It's filled with photos of Henry as he was growing up; there's a few photos of me in there with him too. But at the back I had started to add some photos of the three of us. The book isn't complete yet but it's-"

"It's perfect." Emma muttered, cutting off Regina by pulling her into a deep kiss. "Thank you."


	12. Family

**_A/N: Hey guys! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and new year, and I apologise for not publishing this final chapter on time as I've had no Internet since the last time I posted so I haven't been able to post and then when I did get my internet back it was my 18th birthday and life got in the way. Anyway, here's the final chapter I hope you all enjoy it and I hope you all have a wonderful new year!_**

**_ Lots of love - Courtney-Louise xoxo_**

* * *

_Chapter Twelve._

After their exchange of gifts and grateful kisses, Emma and Regina took their own sweet time getting dressed while Henry sat in his pile of Christmas presents playing on his new Xbox. He had refused to dress unless Emma had set up his games console while his other mother attempted to force the boy into getting dressed for their day. It took longer than it should have, but eventually Henry obliged and dressed as fast as he could.

Leaving their son to his own devices, Emma and Regina retreated upstairs to each take a shower and ready themselves for what could only be assumed as a frightful family meal. But Regina set aside her negative premonitions of the afternoon, just so she could focus on spending Christmas with Henry and Emma - the only people who really mattered to her.

"What do you think?" Regina said as she twirled out of the bathroom in her new red dress.

"Shit." Emma muttered in complete awe. "You look amazing." Emma herself wore a mid-thigh, fitted black dress that hugged every curve in her body. Her blonde curls were strewn everywhere but she still managed to look beautiful.

"You don't look so bad yourself, dear." Regina winked and wrapped her arms around Emma's waist. "You know, we may have to tell your parents about this little number." She raised her left hand and wiggled her ring finger in front of the blonde's face. "Especially if Ruby knows; she will be squirming like a worm on a hook."

"Well, since I asked the question, I think you should tell them." Emma suggested, causing Regina to raise her eyebrows.

"I do believe they're your parents, dear."

"True, but you were my mom's step mother; you have parental responsibilities."

"Like you said, I was. You however, are still their daughter."

Emma groaned and rolled her eyes, knowing that her parents would only want her to tell them anyway. "Fine." She have a slight smile as she looked into Regina's eyes, noticing the nerves building up inside the brunette. "You're worried about dinner with my family, aren't you? Gina, don't be. It's going to be fine and we're going to have a great day as a family, I promise."

Regina was pulled into a well needed hug from Emma. The blonde was right - she was worried; she was worried that the Charmings wouldn't accept the fact that Emma had proposed to her (due to the fact that they still believed that it would be a phase and Emma would go running to either Hook or Neal when things got too 'real'), she was worried that Snow would make a fuss and lose it again, and then she was also worried about Emma.

Since it was Emma's first Christmas, it was obvious she didn't know how much fuss was actually made between families. She didn't know or understand how overwhelming the family feeling is during the festive period and Regina was worried. She was worried that Emma would feel out of place and panic. Dealing with her fiancé having a break down on Christmas day would be that last thing she would want to deal with.

"I thought optimism skipped a generation." Regina whispered into the blonde's hair that coved her ear.

"It did, but I'm actually pretty factual and I know for a fact that we're going to have a good day, okay?" Emma rubbed circled into the small of Regina's back and kissed the curve of her neck. "But, if we don't go now, my mom will actually hate us."

Pulling away from the hug, Regina offered a sympathetic smiled and grabbed her thick coat of the bed. Emma followed in suit and prayed that Henry would actually listen to his mothers when they told him they had to leave. His suliking mood was enough to tell that Emma had pulled the connection out of the wall and Regina had almost dragged him out of the room by his arms.

On their arrival at the diner, Henry huffed as he picked up the sleigh covered in gifts for their family. He had dragged it from the house after he insisted that his mothers shouldn't carry anything. He may have grown to disobey his parents in his teenage years, but he certainly lived up to his grandfather's name when it came to the women in his life.

He carried the sleigh into the filled diner and dropped it in the corner underneath the miniature Christmas tree that Snow insisted Granny put up. To his surprise, he was pulled into a huge embrace from his grandparents who simultaneously shouted "Merry Christmas!" into his ears.

"Where are the girls?" Charming asked, noticing that his daughter and her partner hadn't entered the diner with their son.

"They were right behind me..."

And that they were, until Emma forced a stop when Henry carried the sleigh up the steps and into the diner. Her heart had began to race and her hands began to shake. When Regina felt the trembling hand in her own, she knew how scared Emma actually was.

"Emma, what's wrong?" Regina asked as she stroked the blonde's cheek.

"What if I can't handle this?" She questioned, her voice slowly becoming erratic. "What if I get scared and run? What if it feels too real? What if I don't fit in with all of these traditional occurrences?"

"Emma soon-to-be Swan-Mills," Regina said in a demanding parental tone, "You are acting insane. This is your family; of course you're going to fit in. These are most certainly not traditional occurrences. You are not going to run if it feels 'too real' because this is real, Emma. This is your life, this is your family and you're going to enjoy it, okay?"

Emma nodded and blinked away the growing tears in her eyes. Regina was right; she couldn't be afraid of having something she has always wanted. If proposing to the woman she loved wasn't too real, then what is?

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little overwhelmed." She admitted and clutched onto Regina's hand that was still stroking her cheek.

"I love you, you idiot." Regina chuckled, making Emma smile in return.

"And I love you too, your Majesty."

Without allowing another word, Regina's hand on Emma's cheek quickly found its way around the back of her neck and pulled the blonde straight into a kiss. Teeth bashed together and tongues collided as the two let their hands wander over the other's body in a desperate to feel every part of each other's bodies.

Completely forgetting that they were already late, the sound of the diner's doorbell startled the pair into pulling away from their passionate kiss.

"What's up love birds?" Echoed Ruby's voice from the doorway. "We have food inside if you're still hungry."

Regina's cheeks instantly turned a harsh shade of crimson that just so happened to match the colour of her dress. Emma on the other hand, bit her bottom lip in embarrassment and held Regina's body tight against her own.

Taking the hint that they needed to join their family inside the diner, Emma offered Regina her hand and pulled her fiancé into the diner. Ruby quickly offered to take their coats and the Charmings ran to the door to welcome their daughter.

"Merry Christmas, sweetie!" Snow said as she tugged Emma into a bear hug. "Merry Christmas, Regina." She muttered over Emma's shoulder with a small smile.

"Merry Christmas to you both." Regina managed to say with a forced smile towards Snow, but a slightly more honest smile towards Charming; after all, he was the one to convince his wife that Regina wasn't entirely a bad choice for their daughter.

After Emma managed to pry herself out of her mother's hold, she gave her father a quick hug and returned to holding Regina's waist. The diner was filled - clearly Regina underestimated what Snow had meant by the word family. The seven dwarves sat at the counter drinking beers, Rumple, Belle and Neal were crowded around Henry, Granny, Ruby and Archie gossiped in the corner of the diner and Hook sat with Tink at the end of the overstretched table drinking out of the pirate's infinite hip flask.

"Granny wants us to have our meal before we exchange presents." Charming informed, guiding his daughter and Regina into their seats. "By the way, we're not having starters - your mother somehow managed to burn the prawn cocktails."

Regina knit one eyebrow at the irritation of her fiancé's mother and raised her other eyebrow at the utter confusion of how the dainty brunette had actually managed to burn something that doesn't even need to be cooked. But just for the sake of her own well being, Regina decided best not to question how she had actually done it. Instead, she joined Emma in a little laugh at the woman's incapabilities.

As soon as Ruby noticed that Emma and Regina had taken a seat, she excused herself from the chit-chat and ripped Emma from her seat. She dragged the blonde into the kitchen area of the diner and grinned.

"What the hell are you doing?" Emma demanded in an attempt to compose herself.

"Did you do it?" the brunette pleaded.

"Oh my god, Rubes! She doesn't know that you know!" Emma gasped as quietly as she could, giving her friend a light slap on the arm.

"What don't I know?" Came Regina's voice from the doorway. Startling the friends, she wrapped her arms around Emma's waist and kissed her fiancé's shoulder. "You know, Miss Lucas, when you steal my fiancé in such a way, I feel obliged to steal her back."

"You did it?!" Ruby shouted as she tackled Emma and Regina into a rib crushing hug. "I'm so happy for you guys!"

"Ruby...you're...crushing me," Emma breathed, feeling Regina's grasp around her waist become tighter and Ruby's becoming loose. "And Regina, you're...not making...it any easier!"

Regina and Ruby laughed at the squirming blonde in their arms, giving her one last squeeze before loosening their grip. Ruby let go completely and Regina placed her hands on Emma's hips, nestling her chin into the crook of Emma's neck from behind.

"Are you going to tell everyone?" Ruby asked, still trying to contain her excitement.

"Yes, and Emma is going to do it, aren't you dear?" Smirking, Regina quickly kissed Emma's cheek and darted out of the room to rejoin Henry and the rest of her fiancé's family.

"Good luck with that one," Ruby laughed with a tilt of her head as if to ask Emma to walk with her back to the overstretched table.

When everyone had taken their seats at the table, Granny and Ruby disappeared into the kitchen and returned with two carts covered in plates. They each passed a plate crammed with food to everyone sat at the table before actually joining them all in their seats.

As Charming stood to say grace, Emma joined him and glanced at Regina with a slight nod. She knew that there would be no other time to really tell everyone, so while her nerves were dying down, Emma decided to jump straight in.

"Sorry dad, before you do the honours, Regina and I have an announcement." Instantly everyone turned towards the blonde in anticipation. "I've asked Regina to marry me."

"Yes!" Tink shouted.

"What?" Snow hissed.

"I knew it!" Charming clapped before giving his daughter a high five across the table.

"Did you say yes, Regina?" Belle asked, ignoring everyone else. In answer to her question, Regina nodded and held up her left hand for the woman to see. "Oh, it's beautiful. Good choice, Emma, and congratulations."

Emma coyly returned to her seat and was welcomed by a light kiss from a smiling Regina. Admittedly, Emma had never seen the woman so happy and she decided that she didn't care if no one liked the fact that they were now engaged; all she cared about was the happiness of her fiancé and their son.

"Before I actually say grace, I think we should toast to the happy couple." Charming smiled and raised the glass of champagne in front of him that Granny had filled before they all sat down. "To Emma and Regina."

His words echoed through the diner as everyone repeated them with raised glasses. However Snow remained reluctant in her actions and watched Emma and Regina from across the table. She tried to piece together the possibilities of how their relationship could be fake but failed when she saw Emma place a kiss on the brunette's nose, which made her blush even more than she already had been.

When Charming had finally said grace and everyone began eating, Snow reached across the table to put her own hand on top of Emma and Regina's intertwined digits. The touch was a shock for the women who had mastered eating with one hand a long time ago.

"I want to congratulate you both, but I also want to know if you're making the right choice." Snow began, hoping that the couple wouldn't be angry at her words.

"Thank you, mom," Emma emphasised the word 'mom', in hope that Snow would actually feel calmer and more reassured, "This is definitely the right decision for me..."

"It is for me, too." Regina said, knowing that Emma leather answer open for Regina's honest input. "Snow, I know you're still uncomfortable with this, but I am in love with your daughter, so when she asked the question, there was no way that I was going to turn it down."

"And I am in love with Regina, so not asking her to marry me would have been stupid." The blonde admitted, giving Regina's hand a tight squeeze before continuing. "I know I'm just getting used to this family thing, but this is what I want. Regina and Henry are what I want. I know I've got you and dad, but I'm almost thirty and I think I need to settle down and start my own family."

Snow gave a weary nod in agreement and returned to her food. Emma knew she was uncomfortable, but she loved Regina and nothing or no one was going to stop that.

"Congratulations, Swan." Hook shouted across the table, his words slurring from the amount of liquor in his system. "Your father and I had a bet, you see. He bet that you would propose to Regina, and I bet that you would say yes to a proposal from me. Clearly you made me lose my bet."

"No, Killian, your idiocy made you lose your bet." Regina shouted back, enjoying the possibilities of banter.

"Come on, Jones, pay up." Charming heckled. "You owe me fifty bucks."

"You bet fifty bucks that I would propose to Regina?!" Emma hissed at her father.

"Come on, Ems, it's the oldest trick in the book," Charming grinned at his daughter, "Besides, you're most certainly my daughter; I've seen the way you've treated Regina for the past week, you might as well have written it all over your face that you were going to pop the question."

Snow gave her husband a light nudge to tell him to shut up and eat. He obeyed and dropped his head towards his food without breaking eye contact with his daughter before finally offering her a charming smirk. Regina caught the look between father and daughter, and gave Emma's hand a squeeze to tell her too to continue eating before Charming could bring up a conversation that a father would usually have with their son after getting engaged.

The remainder of the meal was filled with idol chit-chat, which involved everyone asking each other what they had already received for Christmas. Ruby had excitedly shared with Emma and Regina the gift she had received from a _still_ secret Santa, gaining a glare from Granny who coincidentally overheard every word of their conversation, making the couple burst out laughing and Ruby turned a crimson red.

As soon as everyone finished their main course, Granny rolled out a cart covered in deserts and gave anyone who protested against a desert a light slap across the head reasoning that "it's Christmas and there is always room for pudding". By now, Hook was already asleep in the remainder of his Christmas dinner and Neal hadn't stopped staring at Emma, even with his father and Belle poking and nudging him to stop. However, it didn't seem to bother Emma or Regina, who were too busy attempting to feed each other their deserts and hysterically laughing at Hook every time he took a deep breath and inhaled a pea onto his nose.

"Look how happy she is," Charming whispered to his wife with a nod towards their daughter, "that's true love, Snow. Don't forget, you hated me when we first met, remember?"

"I know," Snow sighed, not taking her eyes off of Emma and Regina, "I just wish that her happiness wasn't linked to our sadness."

"She won't be if we let it go." Charming suggested as she shovelled some ice cream into his mouth, "besides, Regina isn't the woman she used to be; I mean come on - have you seen what she's doing? The Regina we used to know would have killed the first person to even look at her the way Emma does. When have you ever seen someone lovingly spoon feed and nose kiss the Evil Queen? You know she's changed and you know for a fact that she would never even think about hurting Emma - or us any more for that matter."

Emma and Regina continued to flirt and kiss like teenagers, ignoring the fact that everyone was beginning to leave the table; that was of course, until Ruby wedged her hand between their faces and pulled them out of their seats.

"Everyone's handing out presents, so I thought I would give you guys yours now so no one asks you to open them in front of everyone." Ruby said, handing Emma and Regina their own box, each around the same size as a shoebox. "You might not want to open them in front of Henry either. Poor kid would be scarred for life, that for sure."

"Oh gods, Rubes," Emma whispered, clutching her wrapped gift. "What the hell did you buy us?"

"Lets just say that your sex lives are about to get a little more interesting." Ruby let out a little chuckle before she wandered back to the pile of gifts that she had bought for everyone.

Regina rolled her eyes and took Emma's gift out of her hand, magically transporting them back to their bedroom. "Just in case someone saw them." She reassured with a grin, having successfully performed a spell that allowed her to see inside both boxes. "Let's just say that Miss Lucas has a very good taste." She winked and dragged her fiancé towards the crowd that their family and friends had formed in the middle of the diner.

After hours of exchanging gifts, laughing and reminiscing, Emma caught a glimpse of Henry's head lolling about due to the tiredness that had quickly drowned him and crossed the room to take a seat by his side. As soon as he saw her advancing towards him, Henry fluttered his eyes in an attempt to hide his drowsiness.

"You tired too, kid?" Emma asked as she ruffled his hair. "This isn't the easiest of family activities, is it?"

"Christmas always used to be just me and mom and we would have had a nap by now." He rubbed his eyes, completely forgetting his attempt to hide how tired he was. "We don't have to leave though; it is your first Christmas after all."

"Who cares? Besides, I can see through your mom's 'I'm content' smile that she puts on whenever she's around your grandparents." A smirk crossed Emma's face at the thought of getting home to see what Ruby had bought them that had made Regina so pleased. "Hey, kid, here's the plan; I'm gonna go talk to your mom and everyone else and I need you to dramatically start falling asleep. Add in a couple of loud yawns that everyone can hear and we'll get out of here, okay?"

"Sounds good," Henry said with a sleepy smile. It was obvious that he didn't need to dramatise his little performance, mainly because Emma asked him to do everything that he was trying to hide.

As soon as Emma had reached Regina and wrapped her arms around the brunette's waist from behind, Henry set their plan into motion by rubbing his eyes with a loud yawn. To Emma's surprise, Regina instantly noticed and pulled away from her fiancé's hold to join her son. Watching on from afar, Emma noticed Regina telling Henry to get his coat, making her grin with accomplishment.

"I think we're going to go," Emma announced, breaking the conversation between her mother and Neal. "Henry's exhausted and it's been a pretty big day for the three of us, so…"

Before Snow could open her mouth in protest, Regina rejoined the group with hers and Emma's coats draped over her left arm as she draped her right arm around Emma's waist, leaving her hand on the top of the blonde's thigh. "And I wish to spend some time with my Christmas present," She grinned at Ruby and gave Emma's thigh a squeeze as she caught Snow beginning to cringe and go a little weak at the knees.

In an attempt to stifle her giggle, Emma nodded before she thanked everyone for their day and their gifts. Before departing, she gave her parents brief hugs and bid a pleasant goodbye to everyone as she took Regina's hand in her own and followed Henry out of the diner.

"You know, I think I just scarred your mother for life," chuckled Regina as she laced her fingers between Emma's and pulled the blonde closer to her side.

"Well, if she didn't know we were having sex by now, then she's an oblivious idiot," Emma sighed with a light laugh, enjoying Regina's closeness and body heat in the cold December chill. "Besides, I thought it would have been obvious after the first time we decided to share some public affection. The fact that she fainted said it all too well."

Regina stifled a laugh at the memory and let her eyes wander towards Henry, who was tugging his sleigh behind him, almost running to their home. Clearly they had all felt the day was incredibly trying.

As the turned the corner onto Mifflin Street, a shiver of excitement shot up Emma spine in remembrance of Ruby's gifts. "So, fancy sharing with me what Ruby bought us?"

"Not a chance, dear." A small smile played on the corner of Regina's lips just from thing about the gifts, knowing they they would definitely have to give Ruby another thank you. Emma pouted like a child. "Let's just say one of us isn't going to be able to walk or sit comfortably tomorrow."

Letting out an audible gulp, Emma quickened her pace and practically dragged Regina into the house. To their surprise, Henry was actually dragging himself up the staircase and towards his room.

"Well, goodnight then!" Emma shouted as Henry reached the top of the stairs.

"Goodnight moms and Merry Christmas." He yawned, crossing towards the door.

"Goodnight, sweetie." Shouted Regina as she pushed Emma's jacket off her shoulders and wrapped her arms around her waist and lowering her voice to a husky whisper. "Like I said to your mother; I wish to spend some time with my Christmas present, dear."

"Oh good," Emma grinned, placing light kisses on Regina's nose and lips. "Safe word and sound proofing?"

"Oh gods, yes."


End file.
